Pillbox Busters: Dillingen, Germany (Part 2).

Late last week, we posted the first part of a period article regarding the Battle of Dillingen, Germany.  Today we will resume where we left off.  The original work was titled, “Yank ‘Pillbox Busters’ Blast Big Holes in Siegfried Line,” written by Pierre J. Huss.

“…I contacted the 90th Division here and pillbox buster Sgt. Joseph Williams, of Kansas City, Kansas, as he came out of the Dillingen uproar after five days amidst those Siegfried pillboxes.  He told me how it was done.

“‘When my bunch first went over the Saar,’ he said, ‘we quickly discovered the Siegfried Line is more than a pillbox network.  In fact, its strongest resistance bastions are villages and towns like Dillingen.

“‘Houses and factories are camouflaged fortifications.  We saw the first actual pillboxes in the backyards of several houses a couple of hundred yards after crossing the Saar.  We saw Germans who were using the houses to live in making a dash into the pillboxes.

“‘We threw hand grenades into all the rooms and blew the doors off to avoid getting trapped.  Then we turned our attention to the pillboxes.’”

… to be continued.